Hey everyone! Well...where to start! I just got back from my 1st ever trip to the Australian Outback with my dad, Nicole, Dan and Trish and what a trip it was!  It started by a very long journey over to Australia...a 5 hour flight, a 15 hour flight, another 5 hour flight then a 7 hour drive and we were at Leithen Valley Trophy Hunts Lodge!  I was so excited to be there, I couldn't wait to get unpacked and head out to the bush the next day!Cruising in the big rig heading to camp from the airport!The next morning we woke up and made sure my Thompson Center 300 win mag was dialed in and the boys shot their Mathews! We unpacked, got our gear together and headed out for a few hours to see what we could find!I couldn't believe how HUGE the termite mounds were, I've never seen anything like it before!! They dwarfed me and Trish!The next morning we woke up early at the beautiful lodge for our 1st full day of hunting! The plan was for Dad, Nicole and I to go with our guide George and Dan, Trish and Guide Yogi go together.I wasn't sure what to expect the 1st day out hunting, what the scenery would be, riding in the jeep, etc.  We spotted literally atleast 100 different water buffalo that morning but just nothing big enough! We decided to stop for a lunch break and our guide George had the perfect spot for us to go!This was an old Aborigine Cave that we spent time in to get out of the hot sun for a little bit and eat some lunch.  The old paintings that were on the walls, were unbelievable! I'm not sure how old they were but George said around thousands of years old, wow!After relaxing a bit and getting fueled back up we headed out for the rest of the day's hunt! By this time we were atleast 40 miles back in the middle of nowhere...in a place that George had never even been before! As it started getting later in the day I was wondering if we'd ever even make it out of there that night! As we were driving around that afternoon we were just getting ready to turn around and start making our way back out to the road when we saw a creek bottom that George thought we should walk down.  We got all of our stuff out of the jeep and went for a walk.  Little did I know we were going to spot a monster, old buffalo feeding by himself in the tall grass next to the creek bed.  As soon as we spotted him we got down to our knees and crawled up the creek bed to get closer to him.  I was so nervous as we were crawling, I wasn't sure what to do or think! We belly crawled up to about 40 yards and hid in the tall grass.  I slowly got my TC Dimension Rifle up on my Bog Pod shooting sticks and steadied my crosshairs waiting for him to turn broadside.  I slowly squeezed the trigger and made a perfect shot! He ran out to 100 yards and I put another shot into him putting him down! When dad pulled the camera back to me, Nicole, George and I didn't know what to say! What just happened?! Did I really just shoot my first water buffalo!! First time going overseas on a hunt, biggest animal I've ever seen before and I just put him on the ground! My emotions that were running through me I couldn't even explain! But, I know one thing...I've got a big water buffalo on the ground and I wanted to get my hands on him!!Now that I have a big, old water buffalo on the ground there's just one slight problem...George looks at us and tells us "We have 2 hours to get our video, pictures, cape and cut up this buffalo before we have to start looking for the road otherwise we are sleeping in the bush tonight!" I did NOT want to sleep in the bush so we were all hurrying as fast as we could working together as a team and getting my buffalo cut up and loaded on the jeep trying to head back to camp!We made it back to the road with plenty of light so we took our time heading back the rest of the way to camp.  On the way back George spotted a big hog and since Nicole wasn't going to shoot a buffalo on this trip she was going to try and get herself a hog! We stalked in and she made a great shot on the big boar only running 30 yards and going down!!Now not only are we taking my big ol' water buffalo but a big ol' hog back to camp as well!!  We made it to camp and I was so excited to show everyone my big bull and eat some yummy Australian dinner!Back at camp showing the girls! Trish, Nicole, myself and Momma Sue with my big buffalo!Now that I was tagged out it was my dad's turn now to see if he could get a big one of the ground with his Mathews!The next few days we all hunted hard! We saw LOTS of big bulls but since this was my dad's 2nd trip over there he wanted to shoot a BIG OLD BULL and he wasn't settling for anything else!  We saw lots of Kangaroos and Walabees too!  Dan, Trish and Yogi were seeing lots of big bulls too just not the right ones! But they did see a big ol' fresh water croc!On the 2nd to last day dad and George spotted a really nice old bull feeding by himself from a distance and thought this was the perfect bull to go after!  It was a really long stalk! We all crawled on our hands and knees to a point where I couldn't go any further with them.  I decided to stay back behind a tree and try and watch from there.  George, Dad and Nicole continued on belly crawling up to where we had spotted the bull lay down.  They got up there and set up there gear.  Now it was a waiting game for the big buffalo to stand up.  Meanwhile, I had climbed up in the tree to see if I could get a better look at what was happening!  After 2 hours of sitting out in the beating sun, the buffalo finally stood up and started feeding.  After what seemed like forever the buffalo finally fed into dad's shooting lane and he made a perfect shot! It was so awesome because I got to see it all from the tree!! We all were jumping up and down and couldn't believe what had just happened! I was so happy that I was able to share that moment with my dad!! A memory that I will have with him forever!Our cooks for the week Angleica and Alex got to come out and check out dad's big bull!After getting all of our video and pictures done we loaded him up and headed back to camp!  When we got to camp we found out that Dan had shot a big buffalo that day too! The boys doubled!! Dan stalked in on this big boy to 30 yards in a swamp and made a great shot!Dan with his guide Yogi that filmed the entire thing! Pretty cool that they both got it done! Now that Dad and Dan both filled their tags we had an extra day so we decided to head back to Darwin a day early and Nicole and I were going to go swim with crocodiles!  We were so excited to get the chance to possibly be so close to live crocs!Ready to take the plunge!So after Nicole and I got done with our part, they asked us who wanted to stay in and be part of an experiment that they are wanting to do...and of course I said YES! The main guy that feeds the crocs climbed down in the enclosure with me and off we went to get up close in person with the gators! It was such a rush to have a 16 foot crocodile that close to me! When the guy stuck the chicken liver on a pole outside the enclosure that croc jumped way out of the water and grabbed it, WOW! What a great time at Crocsaurus Cove!We had so much fun in Darwin that day!!Doing a little shopping, acting like tourists!The whole gang eating dinner before we all said our goodbyes!Nicole and I acting goofy before heading to the airport to make our long trek back to the US.  What an unbelievable week it was for me! A trip I will always remember and be grateful for! Memories that will last a lifetime! Thank you very much to everyone at Leithen Valley Outfitters! Alan, Sue and George Stewart, Yogi, our cooks Angelica and Alex, and everyone else that was in camp! Happy Hunting Everyone!Olivia Leithen Valley OutfittersWebsite: http://www.leithenvalley.com